Mike’s Auto Body of Glenwood City, LLC files lawsuit against St. Croix County sheriff and St. Croix County
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
GLENWOOD CITY — Following the murder of St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Kaitie Leising just outside Glenwood City on May 6, 2023, Mike’s Auto Body of Glenwood City, LLC was asked to tow one of the vehicles from the scene.
Mike’s Auto Body, owned by Michael Barstad, is one of the towing companies that has been included on the St. Croix County no-preference tow list “for several years,” according to a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on May 3, 2024.
The lawsuit was filed because Mike’s Auto Body was dropped from the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department’s no-preference towing agreement allegedly without cause.
Deputy Leising had stopped on the evening of May 6, 2023, because a motorist had driven off into the ditch on state Highway 128 near county Highway G. The motorist shot and killed Deputy Leising, and then went into the nearby woods and shot himself.
Mike’s Auto Body subsequently towed one of the vehicles to the Mike’s Auto Body facility in Glenwood City.
Standards
The St. Croix County tow list requirements set specific standards for eligibility, according to the lawsuit complaint.
The first paragraph of the tow list agreement reads, “The St. Croix County’s Sheriff’s Office allows resident towing companies to participate in a no-preference towing rotation under the following terms and conditions. Once a tow company meets the minimum requirements and is placed on the no-preference list, the company must follow all terms and conditions outlined in this document. Failure to abide by the terms and conditions may result in the company’s removal from said list. The decision to admit or exclude a company from participation in this program, for cause, is solely that of the St. Croix County Sheriff.”
Agreement
As of press time, the Tribune Press Reporter had not yet been able to obtain a copy of the no-preference towing agreement, and no additional information is included in the complaint about the “terms and conditions” the towing company must follow to be placed on the list or the “cause” for which a towing company could be removed from the list.
The Tribune Press-Reporter has spent a certain amount of time searching on-line for a copy of the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department no-preference towing policy or the agreement associated with the policy.
While some other municipalities have posted their no-preference towing agreements on-line or have included the policy in their ordinances, information pertaining to St. Croix County has not been located.
Since 2008, St. Croix County has maintained a no-preference rotation list of towing companies that deputies can contact to remove disabled vehicles when the disabled vehicles’ owners do not express a preference for a towing company, according to the lawsuit complaint.
Since 2022, St. Croix County has had a formal written policy, the “St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office No-Preference Tow List Requirements 2022-2023,” the complaint states.
DOJ
Due to the death of a Wisconsin law enforcement officer, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation became involved in the investigation of Deputy Leising’s death.
Mike Barstad sent an e-mail message to several other towing company operators in St. Croix County on May 12, 2023, according to the complaint.
The e-mail message was part of an ongoing effort to organize a towing company association in St. Croix County.
The e-mail message Mike Barstad sent out reads: “We towed in one of the vehicles from the shooting. We have been dealing with that sh*t show all week with investigators etc.
“The owner picked it up today. DOJ Agent comes in right behind him and says they are going to pay the bill.
“Owner signs. DOJ has no information or anything. The bill was $374 including $35 admin for dealing with everyone on it, plus storage. Everything was billed right off our agreement with the sheriff. The agent then says we are gouging.
“Then the agent tells me it is an unfortunate situation and they want the bill lowered and they don’t want to pay the storage.
“All I have to say is what a f’n joke.
“I am assuming then that he isn’t getting paid and is working the case for free since it is an unfortunate situation.
“I am beyond pissed. I am sick of most of this sh*t with the sheriff and the government. Either they don’t do anything with the bills for years and years or then we have to discount bills as if it is our problem.
“As a group, I feel we can’t get anything put together and deal with the sheriff’s department. We have members that aren’t responding or are upset for one reason or another and so instead of sitting at the table and discussing, they don’t respond to emails or come to the meetings. If we don’t start working together and work out our differences then we are wasting our time with the association we have created.
“I am hoping to get some input as to if we are going to start working together or are we going to fold on the association. I don’t care to keep wasting my time sending emails, and going to meetings if we aren’t all going to participate and make a difference.” — Mike
Sheriff Knudson
According to the lawsuit complaint, one of the towing operators who received Barstad’s e-mail message forwarded the message to a lieutenant with the St. Croix County’s Sheriff Department, who brought the e-mail message to the attention of St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson.
Sheriff Knudson sent the following e-mail to Mike Barstad on May 25, 2023:
“Well Mr. Barstad, you have gotten more than my attention.
“To make your interaction with the DCI agent, with no sheriff’s office involvement in the discussion, the time to lash out at me and my office as we work through the murder of my deputy, has brought me to the point of no return with you. No need to worry about this happening again, you will NEVER be utilized in any situation or scene where we choose the towing service.
“You have crossed such a line of humanity choosing this incident to blast me, this office, and those involved in this investigation, that I will be moving towards dissolving the towing agreement.
“ ‘I am assuming then that he isn’t getting paid and is working the case for free since it is an unfortunate situation.’ You’re [sic] comments are heartless, and I’m sickened by your response.”
Removal
Mike’s Auto Body was removed from the towing rotation because of Barstad’s May 12, 2023, e-mail, according to the complaint.
The “St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office No-Preference Tow List Requirements 2022-2023” contained a “clearly implied promise” by St. Croix County that was as long as a towing company was complying with the specified requirements, the business would be placed on and would stay on the towing rotation, the complaint states.
The complaint goes on to say that Mike’s Auto Body was removed from the towing rotation “without notice that its removal was being considered and without opportunity to be heard on the issue of whether it should be removed from the towing rotation.”
If Mike’s Auto Body “had been granted a fair hearing before an impartial and disinterested decision-maker” on the issue of whether the business should have been removed from the towing rotation list, the business could have avoided being removed, according to the lawsuit complaint.
Violation of rights
The lawsuit contends that Sheriff Knudson violated the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States rights of Michael Barstad by removing Mike’s Auto Body from the towing rotation in retaliation for Barstad’s May 12, 2023, e-mail message to other towing operators.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in addition to providing that Congress make no laws respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion, also protects freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
The lawsuit complaint also contends that Sheriff Knudson and St. Croix County violated the right of Mike’s Auto Body to be free from “deprivation of property” without granting an opportunity for a hearing of some kind that conforms to the requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Damages
Michael Barstad suffered lost income, injury to his personal reputation, mental and emotional distress, and other injuries, and is seeking an award of compensatory damages in an amount determined by the court to be just, the complaint states.
Mike’s Auto Body also suffered lost revenue and is seeking compensatory damages in an amount determined by the court to be just.
The action of Sheriff Knudson to remove Mike’s Auto Body from the no-preference towing list was “carried out with malice and with reckless disregard for the plaintiff’s fundamental rights, [and] the plaintiffs seek award of punitive damages in amounts sufficient to deter” Sheriff Knudson and others from similar future wrongful acts, according to the complaint.
Barstad also is asking the court to grant a judgement that awards damages, costs, attorney’s fees, and other relief as the court sees fit, the lawsuit complaint states.
